Beware of World Wide Medical Staffing contracts...
Hi All! Just a reminder to read a company's contract closely and an FYI on World Wide Medical Staffing's (WWMS) standard contract...

I was all set to take a rapid response assignment with WWMS but when they emailed the contract, it stopped me cold. They have a clause in it that says the usual...if your assignment is terminated they reserve the right to be reimbursed by the nurse for travel compensation, housing expenses, other expenditures, blah, blah, blah. A little rigid, but normal.

BUT what really threw up a red flag was this sentence..."YOU WILL ALSO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE BILL RATE FOR THE REMAINING HOURS NOT WORKED AT THE FACILITY AND ANY PENALTIES ASSESSED FROM THE HOSPITAL OR SUB CONTRACTOR". So, if for any reason you can't complete the contract, they're going to charge you for every contracted hour that you DIDN'T work. AND...they're not charging you at the rate you were being paid, but at the rate THEY"RE being paid...which is probably somewhere between $125 and $175 per hour!! Can you imagine if you missed an entire week? At 48 hrs times their bill rate, you would end up owing them thousands!

I wanted to clarify that with the company, to make sure that I wasn't reading anything into it. Their response..."this is World Wide Medical Staffing's standard contract and the statement was entered for the exact reason you stated. If a nurse decides to not complete their assignment, they are held liable for their actions." To me, it's punitive and extreme and absolutely wrong! So be careful and read the fine print.